Politics
BA (Hons)

Overview

Discover how politics changes your world on our full-time degree in Cambridge. Choose to study abroad for one semester in the US, and get support to find work placements. Develop your critical skills by analysing key political structures and institutions from history and use them to gain an insight into future political landscapes in a career as an analyst, journalist or politician.

On this course you’ll study practical and theoretical aspects of politics, looking at contemporary perspectives on key political topics and developing critical analyses of political structures and institutions to gain insights into past, present and future areas of political concern, with both local and global impact.

Focusing on real-life political decision-making, agencies and policies, you’ll examine relevant debates from historical, philosophical and sociological contexts. Our historically-focused modules will give you the chance to view American, British and European politics over the long term, while others will allow you to explore sociological and criminological debates closer to the present. You’ll also be able to develop strands of specialisms in global and international issues, local political concerns, and political activity and activism, choosing from optional modules that will add extra dimensions to your study.

You’ll be taught by leading historians, sociologists, criminologists and political scientists, giving you expert perspectives on contemporary political issues. Our course will encourage you to consider issues that reach more widely than traditional political theory or the politics of parliamentary debate, such as: the history and forms of protest and activism; the politics of the new media; the politics of sustainability and energy; and contemporary questions about devolution and the demassification of state power. While examining domestic, European and international themes in politics, you’ll also have the chance to consider the practical implications of the work involved in making policy decisions.

Careers

This degree will equip you for many careers, including work with local government, charities and NGOs, but also with European and international organisations and agencies. You might also explore career paths in the public services and criminal justice system, future energy policy and planning, security, negotiation and peacekeeping, or communication and media.

While on the course, you’ll have the option to take language modules, which will prepare you for work in international political contexts including UN conflict resolution and diplomacy.

Placements

We work with employers to make sure you graduate with the knowledge, skills and abilities they need. They help us review what we teach and how we teach it – and they offer hands-on, practical opportunities to learn through work-based projects, internships or placements.

In the second year you’ll have a chance to take part in an optional work placement scheme, which will give you tangible skills and experiences to add to your CV.

Modules & assessment

Year one, core modules

On this module you'll gain a broad overview of the academic analysis of politics and the core conceptual materials needed to understand politics at degree level. You'll experience three different strands: structures, ideas and research methods. The first will introduce you to the interlocking institutions that determine what politics is and what it could be. You’ll discuss the nature of power, governance, institutions (both national and transnational), and the wider groups that can influence the political process. The second will guide you through some of the ideological constructs that underpin political change. Here you'll explore representative democracy, identity politics, the relationship between politics and economics, as well as politics and conflict. Through the third, you'll gain an insight into how to research politics for yourself. You’ll learn how political scientists have approached some of the key questions facing them and you’ll be instructed in where to look for key and relevant material online.

On this module, you'll be introduced to global political issues that are relevant to understanding international politics today. You'll gain insight into issues of contemporary international relations, look at key concepts and current affairs topics including globalization, terrorism and security, revolts and revolutions as well as challenges of global environmental governance. You'll be introduced to key perspectives on how national and international issues affect one another, beyond foreign policy, and examine a number of concrete problems, major international events and long-term global processes. You’ll be assessed through a case study (1,000 words) and essay (2,000 words).

This module will introduce you to the sociology of economic life and the sociology of inequality. It'll give you an overview of the development and significance of capitalism. Through this, you'll be introduced to the concept of Neoliberalism as part of an account of the shifting relationships between state, economy, and society. Working with statistics, you'll focus on the changing patterns of inequality under contemporary capitalism and examine divisions of class, gender, ethnicity, and age. A recurring theme of the module will be the complex spatial dimensions of inequality and the ways in which capitalism's global processes generate distinct local experiences. You'll be assessed by completion of a stimulus response based around discussion and analysis of data on inequality as well as a summative essay addressing the key features of Neoliberalism.

People fight for their rights, resent other people's exercise of their rights, claim rights against the state or on behalf of animals. But what are 'rights'? Who is entitled to them? Why? These questions are central to contemporary moral and political philosophy and also to the way in which we think of issues such as medical care, crime and punishment, justice and happiness.
Through a series of lectures and seminars, you'll develop an understanding of these questions and the ways in which philosophers through the centuries have attempted to answer them.

This module will encourage you to think about the significance of gender in shaping the social world through three interrelated themes: the examination of the various and contested meanings of gender; the exploration of specific aspects of social and organisational life within which gender is a central concern; and globalisation and gender politics. Using this framework, you'll examine examples from different societies and historical periods to understand the variety and complexity of gender relations. In seminars, you'll apply course material to a specific area of social life in order to uncover the working of gender relations within it. Your progress in taking such collective responsibility will be an explicit theme of class discussion throughout the module. You'll be assessed through a seminar presentation and a 2,500-word essay.

Year one, optional modules

This module will introduce you to concepts of globalisation. You'll be asked to consider how your daily life is affected by processes of globalisation and think critically about theoretical approaches to these processes. You'll cover the various dimensions of globalisation on a lecture-by-lecture basis, also exploring connections between topics. These dimensions/topics will include hard vs. soft globalisation; the globalised economy; the impact of globalisation on the nation-state; migration and diaspora; popular culture and patterns of consumption; and globalisation and ecology. You'll be assessed through submission of a 3,000 word essay.

Year two, core modules

On this module, you'll explore the development of nation-states in Europe from Napoleon to the outbreak of the First World War. Beginning with the impact of the Napoleonic rule on France and on Europe, you'll look at the ideas that lay behind European revolutionary movements and the ideologies of the regimes that tried to suppress them. You'll cover the 1848 revolutions and the impact of nationalism and liberalism on the Habsburg Empire, Italy, Germany, France and Russia, and consider the unification movements in Italy and Germany. You'll also study major themes, including the Eastern Question, the growth of communism and socialism and the impact of anti-semitism, and major cities, such as Vienna and Paris, in the context of the cultural changes in the European fin de siècle. You'll finish the module by looking at the international tensions that led up to the outbreak of war in 1914. Your assessment will be a 2,000 word essay and a 3-hour exam.

In this module you will learn how EU institutions work, how public policy is adopted at the European level and the core issues at
the heart of the development of the EU in the international realm. You will gain an understanding of the EU as a political
system, the interactions between member states, the institution and non-members, and the processes of government, public
policy and politics. The module aims to address contemporary challenges to the EU and explores questions such as ‘why do European elections not work’? How does decision making work in the EU? What powers do European institutions have in relation to their
members? How effective is the EU? Has the Euro crisis spelled the end of the EU? And other contemporary issues affecting
EU politics and policies. Furthermore, the module will give you the skills to critically evaluate the role of EU institutions in governance areas such as migration, human rights, international law, among others and will give you a good understanding of the ongoing development of the EU and the challenges it faces in a global context. You will be taught by lecture and seminar, and assessed by essay and poster presentation.

On this module you will look at the different political systems in place around the globe. You will analyse systems of governance
from each continent and interrogates the differences and similarities that divide and unite them. Building on the ‘Political
Theory – A History’ module, you will have the opportunity to take the theoretical knowledge gained regarding how a particular
polity may be constructed in theory and look at how examples of it functions in practice. The module will place you at the forefront of contemporary political debates. Through a series of lectures on specific political systems you will be encouraged to explore the tensions and complementary facets between them. It is sometimes said that the post-1989 period has been non-ideological: this module will show you the limitations of this view. Through exploration of some of the key systems governing the majority of the earth’s population, you will be encouraged to compare and contrast modern politics at the sharp end. Through this you will gain an ability to talk about different systems confidently, competently and comparatively. Individual examples may include: African politics and the Arab Spring; Presidential democracy in the United States; Parliamentary democracy in the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada; Middle Eastern theocracy; Russian autocracy in the Putin era; Socialist planning in Cuba; The corporate state in Singapore; China and its communist-capitalist elements; Germany and devolved democratic governance; The high growth BRICs economies. You will be taught through lectures and seminars and assessed by an essay and comparative analysis.

Social and political movements have become a notable feature of national and international politics in the contemporary world.
The Arab Spring, the Occupy Movement, G20 protests, WikiLeaks – these are all manifestations of protests, rebellion and
activism today. Uprisings against state and international forces have a long history and have contributed to revolutions and
changes in political systems the world over. On this module you will examine how ‘bottom-up’ forces have shaped politics and what role
protests and activism plays in today’s political context: who the actors are, what power they have, how they have shaped politics and what role the new media plays in protests and in activism. You will engage with theoretical and conceptual tools to understand civil society, empowerment, protest, activism, rebellion and revolution, taking a historical approach to examining social and political rebellions and revolutions in the 20th and 21st century. You will also explore the role of key global actors, including social movements, NGOs, nationalist movements, ideological movements, global media, industry, as well as national and global institutions. A consideration of theoretical conceptions will help you to understand the mechanisms of social and political protests, and you will discuss the dynamics of uprisings and revolutions beginning with the suffragette movement and ending with #Occupy. You will also be able to attend a series of film showings relevant to the topics in addition to the lectures and seminars, while your assessment will comprise a case study and analysis.

Year two, optional modules

The media is saturated with reports of war, ethnic and political conflict. Whilst there are rules of engagement for war, crimes are still committed during conflicts. On this module, you'll consider and evaluate the concept of 'war', through the conduct of governments and international bodies as well as combatants and non-combatants. You'll examine the causes of war and crimes committed in conflict-torn environments. Is war a natural consequence of human interaction? Is there a difference between a 'terrorist' and a 'freedom fighter'? Are there effective methods for resolving global conflicts? You'll explore some historical, political, legal and sociological explanations of combat, conflict and political unrest, agendas as well as the impact of patriotism, nationalism and fanaticism. You'll examine theories of war, rules of armed conflict and the roles of international courts and tribunals, as well as representations of war in the media (including the 'war on drugs' and 'war on terror'), conflict prevention and effective peace processes. You'll be encouraged to draw upon contemporary materials, and to keep up with recent media coverage of events. You'll be assessed through essays, one of them time constrained.

This is a survey module on the development of the USA, 1776-1900. You'll study in outline the major events, concepts and issues that shaped American culture in this period, encountering great leaders such as George Washington and Abraham Lincoln and examining debates over the meaning of the Constitution, the creation of the American political system, the significance of the frontier and westward expansion in American history, the roots of feminism, and the role of race and ethnicity (particularly the issue of slavery). Much of your time will be spent on the causes and consequences of the American Civil War. You'll consider how the United States was on the verge of superpower status by 1900. You'll be assessed by one essay and an exam.

On this module, you'll look at the development of the British Empire from the end of the War of American Independence to the end of the Great War. You'll discover how Britain expanded its hold overseas and the developing nature of British Imperial rule, with a balance between looking at individual colonies (the British Caribbean, India, the Opium wars with China, the development of British rule in Canada, etc.) a consideration of general themes underpinning the imperial experience of the British and the peoples of their empire (conflicting theories about the Empire's economic benefits, and the development of imperial consciousness and culture in Britain and of nationalism in the colonies). You'll study the work of medical personnel, missionaries and engineers. You'll engage with different schools of thinking about imperial history, including both the more assertive apologia school and the 'Subaltern' postcolonialist school. Your assessment will consist of a commentary on document extracts provided for the course, and a seen written examination.

This course will introduce you to the development of Victorian Britain. You'll examine changes in politics and social structure, focusing in particular on the development of the party political system as well as class, gender, sexuality and the economy. You'll also examine key political and social figures such as Robert Peel, Florence Nightingale, Queen Victoria and William Gladstone. You'll focus in particular on the emergence of liberalism and on Victorian Britain as a liberal society. You'll be assessed through an essay and an exam.

On this module, you'll explore explanations of deviant behaviour throughout the 20th century and theories of crime that are of both historical interest and contemporary relevance, identifying and policing the parameters of 'normality' in late modern, Western society. You'll also look at specific questions relating to the transgression of social norms and whether it is the result of specific environments. You'll not only gain a historical understanding of social explanations, but also learn to demonstrate the relevance of these theories to contemporary understandings of deviance and social control. You'll also explore Labelling Theory and Radical or Marxist Criminological theories, as well as more practical or policy oriented views of both Right and Left Realism, before going on to look at two recent and very influential approaches to understanding crime. You’ll then focus on the role of "power" and social control, and the role of "culture" and the recent work of cultural criminologists. Your assessment will comprise of a test and an essay.

The vulnerabilities and strengths of, and 'differences' between, human bodies are not only experienced by all of us in our daily lives but are increasingly at the forefront of political and social media debates and controversies. Beginning with the body in history, you'll examine the ways in which biological and sociological understandings of the body underpin various religious, medical and political forms of knowledge and power. You will ask how ideas of the healthy body feed into ideas of agency and personal responsibility that often serve to legitimise forms of social stigma, marginalisation and health inequalities. You'll also examine the ways in which the body is the focus of new forms of technology and the ways in which this technologised body is dissected, bought and sold for medical, cosmetic and sexual purposes. You’ll look at how bodies are deployed as political weapons and expressions. You'll be assessed through a presentation as well as a 2,500-word essay.

On this module, you'll study the development of the United States during the 20th century as it gained superpower status, investigating social and political change from the Progressive era through to Ronald Reagan's presidency. You'll consider such key figures as Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Al Capone, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King and Richard Nixon, with topics including US foreign policy, imperialism, the New Deal, McCarthyism, the Civil Rights movement, the Vietnam War and Watergate. You'll evaluate themes such as the continuities and changes in foreign policy, the development of the reform tradition as well as the problems of race. You'll be assessed through an essay and exam respectively.

This module will prepare you for the transition from education to work by helping you apply skills gained through your studies in a practical way, and by investigating possible careers for which your degree would be relevant. Through 70 hours of work experience, you'll explore how work and learning interact, increasing your employability by improving your sector knowledge, self-reliance and confidence. Appropriate work placements will give you the relevant experience in sectors and roles in which social science students are likely to find future employment, such as the Citizen's Advice Bureau. Your work placement will be accompanied by an agreement between you, your employer and the module leader. You'll then apply your sociological knowledge, skills and concepts to the analysis of your work experience. You'll also produce a reflective workplace diary, logging activity and supporting an analysis of the learning achieved in the report. You'll also attend a series of workshops to support your work, and receive supervision from the Module Leader or Tutor.

This course will introduce you to the development of Britain in the 20th century. You'll examine changes in politics and social structure, focusing in particular on the development of the party political system as well as class, gender, sexuality and the economy. You'll examine key political and social figures (such as David Lloyd George, Winston Churchill, the Beatles and Margaret Thatcher), the impact of Total War on twentieth century society, as well as unemployment, consumerism and the changing roles of women. You'll also consider the way that the reform tradition came to embrace the welfare state. You'll find this module useful for understanding many current social and political controversies as it explores how today's Britain came into being. You'll be assessed through a 2000-word portfolio and a one-hour exam.

On this module, you'll examine the 15-year period that began with war and ended with capitalism entering a new crisis when Wall Street crashed. You'll assess the causes and consequences of the First World War in Europe before turning to the main issues on the Western and Eastern Fronts, including the Battle of the Somme and the Russian revolutions, and the end of other European empires. You'll cover post-war diplomacy, assessing the treaties that shaped international relations after 1918, then examine the reconstruction of Europe after the war. Your studies will conclude with a discussion of the crisis in Europe after the Wall Street Crash and the onset of the Great Depression. You will be assessed through two essays: one on the causes and course of the war, and one on the consequences of the conflict.

Year three, core modules

The individual final Major Project module allows you to engage in a substantial piece of individual research, focused on a topic relevant to your specific discipline. Normally the topic will be agreed in consultation with academic staff and an appropriate supervisor will be appointed to supervise you in your chosen topic. The topic may also be drawn from a variety of sources including: Anglia Ruskin research groups, previous or current work experience, the company in which you are currently employed, or a professional subject of specific interest (if suitable supervision is available). The project topic will be assessed for suitability to ensure sufficient academic challenge and satisfactory supervision by an academic member of staff. The chosen topic will require you to identify and formulate problems and issues, conduct literature reviews, evaluate information, investigate and adopt suitable development methodologies, determine solutions, develop software and/or media artefacts as appropriate, process data, critically appraise and present your findings. Regular meetings with the project supervisor and or/group workshops should take place, so that the project is closely monitored and steered in the right direction. The assessment will normally include a substantial written report, including a bibliography.

On this module you will look at how politics and the politics ‘industry’ functions, particularly with regard to contemporary Westminster. You will be introduced to the way politics works in practice, and also provided with a concrete set of ‘outputs’ that you can draw upon for future job applications. The first part of the module will introduce you to the type of task you may encounter in employment in a politics-focused role, discussing the origins and activities of think tanks, lobbying organisations, and charities and encouraging you to think about how each shapes the policy making process. In short, you will discover what politics as a profession means in the UK, both in Westminster and beyond. The second part will introduce you to the types of activities you would carry out in a policy-focused role. Over the course of the semester you will develop a portfolio, including a briefing for a politician ahead of a major debate, and a public-facing blog on a particular issue or interest of your own. You will also survey the types of opportunities available for placements and internships, produce a CV and write a typical letter of introduction.

Year three, optional modules

New media, and particularly online social media, have become a fixture in today’s socio-political context. The ubiquity of online
social media like Twitter and Facebook, among other platforms, have given them not only a social dimension but also one that facilitates political activism, exchange and perhaps control. On this module, you will explore the role of social media in political practices, and the production of political knowledge as well as power. You will be introduced to the many facets of social media in political theory and practice, before considering real world impact areas of social media today in a range of issue areas. You will focus on how social media impacts on activism and protest, and political campaigning, but will also explore the darker side of social media freedom. The module is structured in two parts, beginning with an engagement of theoretical aspects relevant to politics and social media. In this part you will explore and contrast the virtual with the real, examining how they relate to one another in current socio-political contexts. The second part engages with concrete cases in which social media have played an active role for social and political impact. As part of the module, you will be encouraged to participate actively with social media on a political topic of your choice, assessing the value and role of the online social media platform. You will be taught by lectures and seminars, and assessed by an essay and an on-line blog and twitter feed exercise.

This module will allow you to explore the development of feminist theory and practice from the early 20th century, with a particular focus on the period from the 1960s to the present.
You'll predominantly cover British and North American feminism, but will also consider perspectives and activism from other global regions. You'll explore and locate different feminist perspectives including liberal, socialist, intersectional, post-structuralist and post-feminism, but with a particular focus on radical feminism. You'll explore these perspectives in relation to key topics that have been central to feminist struggles, such as the family; male violence against women; concepts of masculinity and femininity; sexuality and reproductive rights; media representation; employment and participation in public life.
The key themes include:
- Feminist strategies, activism and impact
- Men's roles and relationship to feminism
- Current issues and the future of feminism.
You'll be taught through a combination of lectures and seminars, and will need to read in preparation for the seminars. Within seminar discussions, you'll assume collective responsibility for applying course material to a specific area of social life in order to elucidate the development of feminist theory and practice within it, and taking such collective responsibility will be an explicit theme of class discussion throughout the module.
Your assessment for this module will take the form of a 500-word case study summary and an essay of a maximum 2,500 words.

On this module, you'll explore the sociology of 'race', racism and ethnic divisions. You'll consider three related themes: the social origins and significance of racial and ethnic divisions, the varied causes, contexts and consequences of racism and antiracism, and the cultural consequences of migration. Although your primary substantive focus will be on race relations in contemporary Britain, you will also draw insights from historical and international comparisons. You'll also attend a series of student-led workshops, in which you'll apply sociological knowledge and understanding to current questions of 'race' politics and policy. The topics of these workshop will relate to key module themes, such as: the collection and use of racialised data in the criminal justice system, debates about the usefulness of the concept of institutional racism, and globalised Islam.

On this module, you'll examine the extraordinary 15-year period that began with the global financial crisis and the Great Depression and ended with the Second World War and a very different world. You'll explore the different types of political systems and ideologies that existed in 1930s Europe, assessing the crisis of liberal democracy and the prevalence of authoritarian forms of government, such as the Soviet Union, Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. You'll also examine international relations in this decade, focusing on some of the key crises such as the Nazis' invasion of the Rhineland and the Spanish Civil War. You'll assess the build up to the outbreak of the war in 1939, and question whether war could have been avoided. You'll then look at the war itself, examining the spread of Nazism across Europe, the relations between Winston Churchill and other world leaders, and the Holocaust, before considering the end of the war in Europe and the Allies' victory, assessing whether the war led to Europe being eclipsed as two new superpowers emerged. You'll be assessed through a class presentation/report and an essay.

On this module, you'll look at the process by which European empires declined and collapsed through the course of the 20th century. You'll examine the expansion in European empires that occurred at the end of the First World War, and the impact of the Depression and the Second World War. You'll consider the role of nationalist movements in putting pressure on the colonial powers before and during the war, and how these movements took advantage of the changed international situation after 1945. You'll also examine the interest of the superpowers in decolonisation during the development of the Cold War. You'll consider why the end of Belgian and Portuguese rule in Africa was attended by so much conflict and the problems posed by white rule in Rhodesia and South Africa, as well as the establishment of the Commonwealth and the post-war impact on British society of large-scale immigration, leading up to the Falklands War of 1982 and the handover of Hong Kong in 1997. You'll be assessed through a document commentary and an end-of-module seen examination.

On this module, you'll consider the key philosophical debates about the legacy of the Enlightenment in the context of modernity. You'll be introduced to key ideas from readings of primary texts that have contributed to debates about history, truth, morality and political power, the nature of interpretation and the role and status of reason and knowledge in the post-Enlightenment era. Your assessment is 1,000 word analysis of a specific topic or passage and a 2,000 word essay debating the wider issues discussed throughout the module.

On this module, you'll address the ideas that lie behind political approaches to public services and explore the relationship between these ideas and policy.
You'll also examine the development of ideological approaches to public services, focusing on some broad approaches, namely, Welfarism, Neoliberalism and 'modernisation', each of which results in the eventual application of political ideology.

On this module you will look at theoretical accounts of capitalism and the nature of power and the state in the modern world, and consider how these structures have been contested and critiqued. You are encouraged to critically reflect on how the capitalist economy works, examining both sympathetic and critical accounts of its core functions. You will also develop an understanding of why and how resistance to the system emerges. Capitalism is not just considered as an economic system however, but also as a political, cultural and social phenomenon. As such, while some readings and issues are drawn from political economy, you will engage with a range of theoretical writing on power, race, feminism, hegemony, and alternatives to the status quo, which each offer differing conceptions of how capitalism, power and mass discontent might be understood. You will also engage with a range of intellectual sources from cultural studies, politics and international relations, history, and sociology. Theoretical positions will be contextualised through the modern and contemporary context of neoliberal globalisation. How has the post-financial crisis political landscape been transformed? What debates are emerging over how and if the market economy might be changed? Why does resistance occur? What is the nature of power? What strategies can be effective in building a more humane society? You will be taught through lectures and seminars each week, with your assessment comprising one 3,000-word essay.

This module will develop your understanding of the relationship between sport, processes of globalisation, and the sphere of international politics. Broadly speaking, the key themes that you'll consider are ideology, power and control. More specifically, you'll be introduced to a set of key theoretical and conceptual insights relating to globalisation, nationalism and commercialisation early in the module. In later lectures and seminars, you'll apply these insights to particular instances from the sporting world. Specific topics you'll consider include 'race' and racism in sport; the Workers' Sport movement, the role of sport in the colonisation of Africa, the history and politics of FIFA, and a number of national case studies including Catalonia and South Africa. You'll be assessed through a 3,000 word essay.

What role, if any, does the concept of evil play in our moral vocabulary? Is it a narrowly theological notion or does it usefully describe certain kinds of act and/or character? On this module, you'll examine contemporary accounts of evil, as well as looking at the concept of evil in the history of philosophy from Leibniz to the present. In addition to considering theoretical discussions of evil, you'll also consider phenomena such as war and terrorism and ask whether the concept of evil helps us to understand them.

On this module you will consider and contrast the long term effects of Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair on British politics since the 1970s. Firstly, you will study how Thatcher deviated from One Nation Conservatism of the 1950s and 1960s, the diagnosis she made of how a society (and government) should function, and the reasons for her electoral triumph in 1979. You will then go on to consider her time in office through the lens of both her core supporters on the one hand and the British left on the other. You will have the opportunity to analyse the effect of Thatcher’s policies on class relations in the UK, and the story of privatisation and reforms to the City of London. The popular platform of Right to Buy, share ownership and moving the low paid out of paying income tax will also be considered. You will then analyse how she has continued to shape British politics since her fall from office in 1990. In doing so, you will look at how she influenced politicians such as John Major, Gordon Brown and, principally, Tony Blair. You will consider how Blair not only learned from Thatcher, but looked across the Atlantic to Bill Clinton and the New Democrats, too. You will consider charges that Blair was a ‘Thatcherite,’ as well as arguments for and against the legacy of New Labour. Throughout, you will have the opportunity to access primary source material via the Margaret Thatcher Foundation online archive and the Reagan online archive.

On this module you'll examine the Cold War, starting with the debates that surround the origins of hostilities between East and West, and ending by questioning whether anyone actually 'won' the Cold War. You'll assess international relations between the USSR and USA after 1945 and examine the consequences of these relations, including the founding of NATO and the Warsaw Pact, the Korean War, the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Vietnam War. You'll also assess Britain's role in the onset of the Cold War. Other areas you'll focus on are the 1960s and the revolutionary challenges in the USA, France and Czechoslovakia, détente, and the Second Cold War. You'll consider the 1989 revolutions in Eastern Europe and what the collapse of the USSR meant for the post-Cold War world. Your assessment will consist of two 1,500 word essays.

Optional modules available all years

The Anglia Language Programme module will allow you to study a foreign language as part of your course. You may choose to take two language modules in place of options on your course from the second semester of your first year, or in the second or third year. You can choose from the following: Chinese (Mandarin), French, German, Italian, Japanese, or Spanish. In order to experience the learning of a new language, you must select one that you have not learned before.

Assessment

You’ll demonstrate your learning through a combination of essays, exams, case studies, optional work experience, and presentations. Your studies will culminate in a final year dissertation on a topic of your choice, and supervised one-on-one by an expert in that area.

Where you'll study

Your faculty

In the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, we use our expertise and connections in Cambridge and beyond to nurture creativity through experimentation and risk-taking, and encourage critical thinking, in order to educate, entertain, inspire and understand, as well as to improve people’s lives.

Where can I study?

Events and links

You’ll have many opportunities to engage with specialists, practitioners, agencies and institutions through our guest speakers, workshop events, visits, research projects, and links with local bodies, charities and organisations.

Study abroad

You can apply to study abroad for one semester at one of our North American university partners, such as the University of Valparaiso, whose excellent Social Science programme will open up questions regarding US politics and democratic ideologies to complement your study on this degree course. You can also get funding to help you cover the cost.

Cambridge

Cambridge is only one hour from Westminster and three from Brussels, with a busy political scene including Labour and Liberal Democrat clubs that we share with the University of Cambridge. As one of our students you’ll be eligible for membership of the Cambridge Union, where you can hear talks by politicians and get your foot in the door of the world of politics.

Fees & funding

Course fees

UK & EU students starting 2019/20 (per year)

£9,250

International students starting 2019/20 (per year)

£13,100

Fee information

For more information about tuition fees, including the UK Government's commitment to EU students, please see our UK/EU funding pages

How do I pay my fees?

Tuition fee loan

You can take out a tuition fee loan, which you won’t need to start repaying until after your graduate. Or alternatively, there's the option to pay your fees upfront.

International students

Funding for UK & EU students

Most new undergraduate students can apply for government funding to support their studies and university life. This includes Tuition Fee Loans and Maintenance Loans. There are additional grants available for specific groups of students, such as those with disabilities or dependants.

Funding for international students

Entry requirements

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Important additional notes

Our published entry requirements are a guide only and our decision will be based on your overall suitability for the course as well as whether you meet the minimum entry requirements. Other equivalent qualifications may be accepted for entry to this course, please email answers@anglia.ac.uk for further information.

We don't accept AS level qualifications on their own for entry to our undergraduate degree courses. However for some degree courses a small number of tariff points from AS levels are accepted as long as they're combined with tariff points from A levels or other equivalent level 3 qualifications in other subjects.

International students

We welcome applications from international and EU students, and accept a range of international qualifications.

Get more information

UK & EU applicants

International applicants

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